Crime in schools has been a huge problem in the past. So much so that many schools now have their own police officers. What do these school cops do to keep the peace?

An article in the Guardian suggests that while they fight crime, they also criminalize normal school misbehavior. Kids are being ticketed and made to appear in court for minor offenses like throwing paper airplanes and using perfume in class. They can face fines, community service and even prison time.

How did the criminal justice system get involved with issues that used to be handled by parents and teachers?

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Screen Shot: You Tube: Pedestrian Hit Near OWS in Oakland

I first saw this story on 7 Online Live in San Francisco…. they were asking their audience they same question I’m going to ask you.

This isn’t a question of whether of not you agree with Occupy Wall Street.  This is going to be a question about whether of not you agree with something that happend between a few individuals.

It happened Wednesday night in Oakland, California.  It happened near the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Protesters were crossing the street.  Cars were waiting for the street to clear.  According to the video you can watch below… (and the to witnesses on the scene) the protestors banged on the hood of the car you see in the video.  The driver of the car, who witnesses say became frustrated, then accelerates into the crowd of people hitting two people. (the video may be disturbing to some – it was apparently shot on a cell phone)

The twitter stream from KCBS reporter, Chris Filippi, who was on the scene looked like this:

10:39 PM: #Occupyoakland protester hit by car at 11th and Broadway.

10:55 PM: 2nd victim of crash, a woman, being treated for a leg injury. Witnesses say she was hit when driver backed up after initial collision.

11:08 PM: Police take drivers information and allow him to leave. Crowd irate. They were chanting for his arrest. #Occupyoakland

11:14 PM: Dozens of protesters still at 11th in Broadway. Appear shocked by whet happened.

11:32 PM: No way to know. Taken away on stretcher into an ambulance. (in response to:)  “@KristinHanes: @chrisfilippiwhat’s the victim’s condition?”

11:34: Was blinking his eyes. Slight movement of right hand. “@ProducerMatthew: @ChrisFilippi Did he look conscious?”

11:46 PM: Alive when he was driven off in ambulance.

So….  here is my question:

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Could the latest remains found in Utah belong to the missing mother of two?

When I used to work at Fox News in Salt Lake City, we went on high alert every time a body was found.  You might think news stations react that way every time a body is found but that’s not how it works.  Bodies are found more than you think.  Many are a result of natural causes, suicides, not newsworthy events…  you just never know.

But after Susan Powell went missing in 2009, every time a body turned up we sent reporters in case it was her. Most people believe her husband, Josh Powell, the only person of interest named in Susan’s disappearance, killed her and ditched her body somewhere within a couple hundred miles of Salt Lake City. Powell told police he left his wife at home about 12:30 a.m. that day to go winter camping in freezing temperatures with their young sons – then 4 and 2 – on the Pony Express Trail, about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The 4-year-old confirmed the trip to police.

Police in Utah have discovered remains that have not been identified. The remains were found today, on the third day of the latest search for Susan Powell.  ATV riders from the West Valley City Police Department and cadaver dogs and handlers have been searching the sagebrush, grasses, hillsides and boulders in Central Utah near where police have said Josh Powell liked to rock hunt. It’s also about 30 miles from where he says he took his two young sons camping the night Susan disappeared.

So, could the remains belong to Susan?

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Turn in your badge, mama. You're done!

I never really paid attention to stories about breastfeeding before I had babies and did it myself.  It’s hard.  Damn hard.  Even if everything goes right, it’s hard.  That’s why it blows my mind that breastfeeding women are discriminated against (yes, I said discriminated)  all the time.

What is going on?  Time and time again I read stories about women being kicked out of places because they’re breastfeeding or women who lose jobs because their employers won’t work around their pregnancies or support breastfeeding.

So it should be no surprise that it’s happened again.  Continue reading »

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Mom attacked while children watch in horror.

Moms are supposed to set a good example on the playground, right? We’re the ones who come running in when kids get to pushing or shoving or hogging the slide or whatever transgression kids commit while on the playground.

Not so for a group of moms in England who apparently jumped a mom holding her toddler son’s hand while on the playground. According to the Daily Mail students were walking back into their classrooms when the brawl broke out. “As five people set upon the 22-year-old mother… other parents waded in to try to stop the fight and drag the child to safety.” Continue reading »

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A court has ruled three police officers innocent of using excessive force after they Tasered a visibly pregnant woman pulled over for a speeding ticket.

Run that by me again? What is it about “shooting electricity into a fetus” that sounds reasonable? Continue reading »

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Anyone who doubts the Internet’s addictive potential need only look at this sad case of child neglect. A husband and wife have been caught and arrested after their 3-month-old daughter died of severe dehydration and malnutrition. The couple had been on the run for five months. Police say the couples’ addiction to online gaming led them to spend all their time at an Internet café, only coming home once a day to feed their child. Continue reading »

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